10 Lingering Questions We Have After ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2reigned supreme at the box office last weekend, earning $145 million in its first days of U.S. release. The movie also garnered solid reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and an A CinemaScore. People dig it. We did too! But that doesn’t mean it didn’t leave us with a couple lingering questions, both about some of the film’s finer plot points, and about what they mean for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here’s ten of the things we’re still thinking about after #GOTG2. (SPOILERS to follow, ’natch.)

1. If Ego’s an immortal God, why has his body aged?

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Um, because James Gunn wanted Kurt Russell to play the role and it would have been distracting and expensive to have him look young the whole time? That’s the out-of-continuity explanation. The in-continuity reason is a little trickier to figure out. One possibility is that Ego deliberately made himself look older to conform to what Peter’s vision of his father would be. That makes some sense, although the movie doesn’t explicitly state it. Here’s my (completely unsourced) guess: In an earlier draft, I suspect Ego needed Peter’s powers to revitalize his own flagging energy, not to recreate the universe in his own image. At a certain point, Ego’s motivations got shifted (perhaps to give a fairly small movie some more stakes) but by that point the decision had already been made to cast an older actor.

2. Who (or what) is Mantis, exactly?

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This new character and (and eventual Guardian) plays an important role in the plot of Guardians 2, but she’s more of a function of the story than a fully-developed character. What alien species does she belong to? Is she secretly Ego’s daughter, like Peter? In the film, Ego apparently relies on Mantis to help him sleep. Which brings us to our next question:

3. Why does Ego need to sleep and why does he need Mantis’ help doing it?

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Short of reshaping the entire universe in his image, Ego can do just about anything. He can make new versions of himself, he’s a whole planet, and he’s lived for untold thousands of years. But he still needs the occasional nap? Do space gods take a lot of siestas?

Mantis says Ego keeps her around to help him sleep. It’s worth noting that Ego doesn’t rely on anyone else. He’s killed who knows how many of his own children in pursuit of his goal. All he cares about is himself and his vision of the universe. Mantis is the only one he keeps hanging around. So she’s there for a reason. Is it possible Ego hangs on to Mantis for other purposes, ones that she herself isn’t even aware of yet? Or was this just a weird, unexplained plot detail? (This could jive with my theory that in an earlier version of the film Ego was dying or running out of juice, hence needing Peter to recharge him and Mantis to help him rest.) Maybe we’ll find out in Guardians Vol. 3.

4. Why does Ego remaking the universe in his own image involve giant glowing turds?

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Okay, so Ego wants to remake the universe in his own image. Sure. Fine. Great. Wonderful. Why, exactly, does remaking the universe in his own image involve waves of giant glowing turds? Is the core of Ego’s planet actually made up of glowturd? These poop breakers are not only visually unappealing, they’re inefficient, allowing our heroes just enough time to save the day. Everything about the execution of his plan reminded me of Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four, with Doctor Doom sending waves of garbage at the Earth from Planet Zero. And if you’re a superhero movie and one of your choices reminds people of Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four, you’ve got a problem.

5. What exactly is inside the “Adam” cocoon?

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We won’t know until Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 but it will certainly be the MCU’s version of Adam Warlock, a classic cosmic character from Marvel Comics who tends to tussle with Thanos over the Infinity Gauntlet (and, y’know, the fate of the rest of the universe). Warlock was originally written into the script for Guardians 2, until Gunn decided he had too many characters and cut him out. Gunn also said Warlock’s one of his “favorite characters,” so it’s basically a guarantee that some kind of Adam Warlock is coming out of that thing. Exactly what he looks like and who he’s played by remains to be seen.

6. Will we see Yondu again?

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Guardians Vol. 2 ends with a very moving space funeral for Yondu, which is definitely a sentence I never expected to write as part of my job. He sure seems dead, but Michael Rooker has been teasing his involvement in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War for months, posting photos of himself in makeup trailers wearing Avengers hats (with poorly covered logos). So what gives? Is he dead or not? I suspect he is, and we’ll still see him again anyway, most likely in a flashback to Peter’s childhood, or to some previously unseen event that plays a role in defeating Thanos.

7. What did Drax’s wife look like?

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Drax’s storyline in Vol. 2 mostly revolves around his relationship with Mantis, and whether or not she (or he, or anyone) is beautiful or ugly. He repeatedly mentions his late wife, who was supposedly murdered by Ronan, and her attractiveness. If Drax looks like Drax, what did the Drax-ette look like? Will we finally see her in Infinity War?

8. Did Drax forget about Thanos or something?

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Speaking Drax, he had one of the coolest lines from the end of Guardians 1. After the team defeats Ronan, Gamora consoles him, pointing out that his family has finally been avenged. “Yes,” Drax replies. “Of course Ronan was only a puppet. It’s really Thanos I need to kill.” It was a big oh s--- moment, but it’s completely dropped in Vol. 2. Granted, the team is busy with other stuff, but it would have been nice for him to at least acknowledge this. Instead, he seems surprisingly well-adjusted, mostly joking with his teammates and with Mantis. Meanwhile, Nebula and Gamora have this entire arc about Thanos and their screwed up childhoods, but the trio never talk about their shared mutual enemy. This will probably all get settled in Avengers: Infinity War, but it does feel odd not to have it addressed in any way.

9. Who perfected the Sovereign?

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Ayesha, the leader of the gold-skinned Sovereign aliens, talks about how their features have been perfected in a lab to weed out any bad traits or physical features. It’s a fun joke because the Sovereign are a bunch of spoiled, obnoxious jerks, perfect only in superficial ways. But it made us wonder: If these Sovereign beings were created in a lab, who created them? Were they once an imperfect race that experimented on themselves? Or did someone else create them from scratch? The Ayesha from the Marvel Comics is no help; she’s a totally different character.

10. Did we really need all those post-credits scenes?

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No, we didn’t. But it was cool seeing Jeff Goldblum dancing in the credits as his character from the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok. That we definitely needed.